Blues Guitar Superstar Walter Trout Headlines Blue Star Denver 8 Benefit Concert, Silent Auction, & Gear Drive

BLUES GUITAR SUPERSTAR WALTER TROUT HEADLINES BLUE STAR DENVER 8 BENEFIT CONCERT, SILENT AUCTION AND  GEAR DRIVE  Saturday, March 23 - TURNHALLE BALLROOM AT THE TIVOLI - 6:00PM Hosted By Blue Star Connection in Conjunction w/ Grand County Blues Society

(DENVER, CO) - Blues guitar superstar Walter Trout headlines Blue Star Denver 8, a Benefit Concert, Silent Auction, and Gear Drive, Saturday, March 23, at Turnhalle Ballroom at The Tivoli, located at Metropolitan State University of Denver, 900 Auraria Parkway. Doors open 5:30pm, showtime is 6:00PM. Tickets: $25.00 (General Admission), $35.00 (Reserved), $69. (VIP); $750.00 (VIP Premier Table). Info: (303) 726-6111 or visit www.bluestarconnection.org.  Also performing: Honey Island Swamp Band, B To The Sixth, and Special Guest, Kate Moss.   Net proceeds benefit Blue Star Connection, to help carry out their mission of providing access and ownership of musical instruments for children and young adults with cancer and other serious life challenges. To date, BSC has reached over  eight-hundred kids and has donated musical gear to sixty-five Children's Hospitals and Music Therapy Programs as well as several other community programs. This is the largest yearly Blue Star Connection fundraiser with the largest "music related" Silent Auction in the state of Colorado.                       About The Performers at Blue Star Denver 8   Walter Trout and Provogue Records/Mascot Label Group have just released Trout's newest album, Survivor’s Blues. The track-listing of Survivor Blues is a window into the 67-year-old’s fast-moving back-story, chronicling a five-decade career whose one constant is his deep love of the Blues. Trout is no ordinary artist and this is no ordinary covers album. "I didn’t want to do ‘Stormy Monday’ or ‘Messin’ With The Kid.’ I didn’t want to do the Blues greatest hits. I wanted to do old, obscure songs that have hardly been covered. And that’s how Survivor Blues started,” explains Trout. Over the course of the last several decades, Walter Trout has been a prolific artist.  He’s regularly released offerings from the studio, so this moment of offering a covers album is somewhat of a curve-ball.  Trout was voted #6 in a  memorable BBC Radio Poll of the 20 Best Guitarists Of All Time, alongside such greats as Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Gary Moore. His 2017 all-star release, We’re All In This Together, shows no sign of burning out and continues to receive accolades and sales on a global basis, alongside four awards for Blues Rock Album Of The Year.  In 2018, Trout's release "We're All In It Together" won the Blues Foundation's Blues Music Award for Rock Blues Album.    When it comes to Honey Island Swamp Band, think The Band’s Big Pink album and add a splash of hot sauce with Willin’ by Little Feat – this group of New Orleans vagabonds nails it. From the pristine waters of the Honey Island Swamp, to the vibrant streets of New Orleans, to the hazy corner of Haight-Asbury in San Francisco, this band has endured devastation, relocation, and revitalization. “Their all-encompassing sound of blues, roots, country, and soul has been described as “Bayou Americana," writes respected publication, NO DEPRESSION. Ruf Records artist Honey Island Swamp Band takes the hammer to the nail with the help of producer Luther Dickinson on their latest release, Demolition Day. On Demolition Day, the Honey Island Swamp Band breaks these boundaries to deliver a sound so relevant and honest that even in the darkest of days – like the violent storm that brought this group of musicians together – Demolition Day still shines brightly.      Kate Moss has enjoyed playing guitar since her teens, but it wasn’t until she met Buddy Guy at the age of 21 that she realized what genre of music commanded her focus: The Blues. Exploring Buddy's music and that of his contemporaries, she fell in love with the sound and the heartfelt, improvisational nature of the Blues. Over the years, Kate has been honored to share the stage with not only Buddy on several occasions, but other top performers in the biz, like her husband Nick Moss, Jimmy Vivino, Tommy Castro, Jimmy Johnson, Walter Trout, Eddie Shaw, Curtis Salgado, Ana Popovic, Smokin’ Joe Kubek, Lurrie Bell, and Mud Morganfield, among many others.    B to the 6th represented the Grand County Blues Society in the International Blues Challenge Youth Showcase in Memphis, TN this past January. This six-piece band from Colorado Springs is bringing their fun funky blues in their debut with Blue Star Connection!                                About Grand County Blues Society       We have not lost our way but rather tried to lead the way. With innovation, tremendous volunteer effort and creativity, we have managed to stay ambitious and dedicated to the love and excitement of live blues. We have produced fifteen festivals in Grand County and we have presented well over two-hundred shows along the way.   We have taken Blues in the Schools to every school in Grand County and given Blues History to kids that started with us in the first grade to become seniors in college. We have been involved in all our libraries, creating a musical choice, from CD's to DVDs to actual instruments that can be taken home just like a book. We named it “Check out the Music.” We have looked after the kids wherever and whenever we have found them.   We are an all-volunteer board and we have remained strong with the help of our friends and the businesses that continue to support our mission of bringing national touring acts to our valley. We hope you will get to know us and join us as we move forward supporting the Blues.      Blue Star Denver 8 Artist Interview & Media Show Passes Available.                                              grandblues.org/bluestarconnection facebook.com/BlueStarConnection

Ruf Records artists: Honey Island Swamp Band - Demolition Day - New release review

I just received the newest release, Demolition Day, from Honey Island Swamp Band and it's quite entertaining. Opening with a full blown rocker, How Do You Feel with a Stones vibe, Aaron Wilkinson on guitar, Chris Mule on guitar, Sam Price on bass, Garland Paul on drums and Trevor Brooks on keys get this track rockin. With strong piano support, key guitar riffs and a sassy Bobby keys like sax solo this track is a great opener. Head High Water Blues has a swampy, Band meets Little Feat groove. Price's bass work on this track, nicely balanced with Brook's keyboard really hits on full behind the vocal work of the band. High plains rider, No Easy Way, has an ethereal western sound blended with a jazz flavor. Subdued slide guitar work and nicely accented horn work gives this track a real cool feel. Medicated has a modern R&B feel bringing to mind a lot of the J Geils tracks with solid vocals and horn backing over a solid bass line. A nicely articulated guitar solo gives the track that extra something that sets it apart. Watch and Chain is a funky rocker with a cool Rhodes piano solo over solid slide work. Acoustic guitar work and harp by Wilkinson on Katie has a Louisiana country pop feel. These unconventional textures in music coming to my desk are unconventional. Very nice. Ain't No Fun is a slide driven blues rocker. Prominent bass work by Price stands tall and nice vocal blending makes this a prime radio track. She Goes Crazy has a cool, easy 2 step rhythm and nice horn interplay. Through Another Day is a really interesting track with a bit of a Lynyrd Skynyrd swagger. Wilkinson's mandolin work on this track, contrasted against the slide work and nicely blended vocals makes this one of my favorites on the track. Say It Isn't True has a real full sound in "Band" like fashion. One of the strongest vocal tracks on the release and again with Benoit on pedal steel, Wilkinson harp and a rocky rhythm guitar by Mule, a strong ballad. Wrapping the release is Devil's Den, a blues based, finger picked track with a western flavor with nicely crafted lap steel work by Benoit and mando by Wilkinson. Key rhythm shots by Paul and solid vocals make this a real nice track to close a subtly cool release.



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Wishing Well - Honey Island Swamp Band

Great music begins with great songs, and great songs are what the Honey Island Swamp Band is all about. The band came together after 4 friends were marooned in San Francisco after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. Formed on the strength of timeless songs from Aaron Wilkinson and Chris Mulé, HISB’s "Bayou Americana" sound has been compared to the music of such forefathers as Lowell George, Earl King, Taj Mahal, Jerry Garcia, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Gram Parsons and Jimmy Reed. Their eponymous EP was recorded in 2006 at famed studio The Plant in Sausalito, CA, and was received so well that they all decided to continue the band upon moving back home to New Orleans in 2007. Wishing Well, the band's first full length album won "Best Blues Album” of 2009 from OffBeat Magazine, which has also honored Honey Island Swamp Band as "Best Emerging Artist" of 2009 and “Best Roots Rock Artist” of 2010. And most recently the band was awarded “Best Roots Rock Artist” the past two years (2011 & 2012) at the Big Easy Awards, widely considered the “Grammys of New Orleans”. HISB's newest offering – Good To You – was nominated by OffBeat Magazine as “Best Roots Rock Album” of 2010, was named to numerous “Top 10 CDS of 2010” lists, and has become a staple of most DJs on the Crescent City's legendary radio station WWOZ, as well as on Sirius/XM satellite radio’s Bluesville and traditional stations from coast-to-coast. Featuring the southern strut of songs such as “Country Girl”, "300 Pounds" and the album’s first single “Chocolate Cake”, Good To You illuminates the mix of country-inflected rock and New Orleans funky blues that makes Honey Island Swamp Band's music so familiar and unique at the same time.
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